Rees-Mogg reveals moment Cameron lost control of fight against EU years before referendum

LEADER of the House of Commons Jacob Rees-Mogg revealed the moment former Prime Minister David Cameron lost his fight to keep the UK in the European Union years before the Brexit referendum, in one of the biggest Tory rebellions in Parliament.

Speaking to former Conservative MP Michael Portillo on Channel 5's 'Portillo: The Trouble With The Tories', the prominent Brexiteer explained how the first big defeat for David Cameron in his fight against eurosceptics in the Conservative Party determined the course of history that led to Brexit. Only 17 months into his premiership, David Cameron was forced to face a motion in Parliament laid out by a group of eurosceptics in his party led by David Nuttal.

But, as Jacob Rees-Mogg explained, the whips failed to convince many Tory MPs to be on David Cameron’s side.

He said: “The whips handled it extraordinarily badly.

“They basically said in a heavy-handed way ‘this is a symbol of euroscepticism’.

“It forced people like me, who were quite cautious about the idea, to vote with enthusiasm.”

Former Prime Minister David Cameron and former Chancellor George Osborne (Image: GETTY)

A total of 81 Tory MPs rebelled.

Also speaking to Michael Portillo, then Foreign Secretary William Hague revealed many more MPs who had voted against the bill because they were on the Government’s payroll sympathised with the anti-EU cause.

This made the real number of rebels incredibly higher than that of MPs who voted against the bill.

He said: “There were many other MPs on the Government payroll who sympathised.